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Industrial Engineering & Manufacturing vocabulary · Lean Manufacturing

Poka-yoke

Meaning in industrial engineering & manufacturing, with examples

/ˌpoʊkə ˈjoʊkeɪ/nounCommon term

In industrial engineering & manufacturing, poka-yoke means: A simple device or design feature that prevents a mistake or makes it obvious at once, such as a part that can only fit one way. Japanese for 'mistake-proofing'.

In Turkish: hata önleme, hataya karşı koruma, poka-yoke

How it is used

Developed by Shigeo Shingo for the Toyota Production System. Engineers design, add or install a poka-yoke, and corrective action plans often include one. In English people also say mistake-proofing or error-proofing; 'fool-proofing' is older and less polite.

Example sentences

  1. We added a poka-yoke pin to the fixture so the bracket can't be loaded upside down.

  2. A sensor checks that all four screws are in place; it's our poka-yoke for missing screws.

Common collocations

  • poka-yoke device
  • install a poka-yoke
  • poka-yoke check
  • mistake-proofing
  • defectA fault in a product or part that means it does not meet its specification, such as a scratch, a crack, a wrong dimension or a missing component.
  • corrective actionAn action taken to remove the cause of a problem or nonconformance so that it does not happen again, not just to fix the affected parts.
  • root cause analysisA structured way of finding the deepest reason for a problem, so that it can be fixed for good instead of only treating the symptoms. Often shortened to RCA.
  • standard operating procedureA written, step-by-step description of how a task must be done, so that everyone does it the same, safe and correct way. Usually shortened to SOP.

More terms: Lean Manufacturing

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